Chandrayaan-2: All’s certainly not lost as Orbiter continues to be functional; ISRO to use Orbiter to track Vikram

As Vikram has lost contact with ISRO, the Orbiter continues to be functional. It has eight scientific payloads for mapping the lunar surface

Bengaluru: Years and years of hard work and tireless efforts have momentarily gone in vain in the last minute as Vikram lost contact with ISRO in the city.

But there is no need to be distraught. As the Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, our ISRO scientists are ‘exceptional professionals’.
Vikram might have lost contact, but the Orbiter hasn’t.

It is in orbit around the moon. Interestingly, the orbiter is where the majority of the experiments that are to be performed by Chandrayaan-2 are located.

The orbiter carries eight scientific payloads for mapping the lunar surface and study the exosphere (outer atmosphere) of the Moon. The orbiter has a mission life of a year.

India Today quoted that the Isro is now simultaneously collecting and analysing data from Vikram's descent and making all attempts to get in touch with the lander. The space agency is examining telemetric data from the Chandrayaan-2 lander's decent trajectory, the final emissions and signals sent by the lander and the last set of sensor data received by the control centre back on Earth.

The web portal also said that Isro is making efforts to establish contact with the Vikram lander and is considering tapping into the global deep space network (a collection of radars and communication devices located around the world and used to maintain contact with spacecraft in space) to get more data on the Chandrayaan-2 lander's descent.

All is certainly not lost as Isro is also planning to use the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter to map Vikram's landing site to hunt for clues on the fate of the lander.

Modi addressed the nation at 8 am in view of Vikram losing contact,

After his address, he walked down and shook hands with all the scientists present at the venue. What was most touching was how K Sivan could not hide his tears as Modi left the station. As a caring and doting father, Modi hugged him and patted his back several times, reassuring him that the whole nation was proud of the very endeavour the ISRO had taken up.